Duotang- Hometown Reunion, December 26, 2014

As we near the end of 2014, it's time to reflect on the past year. One of the things that stood out for me was it seemed like it was the year of the comebacks and reunions. Even CBC.ca agrees with me, 2014: The year of the Canadian indie-rock reunion. Bands such as Constantines, The Smalls, Moist, Bum and Winnipeg's, Duotang all reformed either for new recordings, gigs and even tours. For Duotang, they've been on indefinite hiatus (except for the Mint X-Mas party in November) since 2006, so the idea of playing together again must have been daunting. Singer/bassist, Rod Slaughter has been active since in other projects such as Novillero, who achieved moderate success releasing three excellent albums from 2002-2008 and The Shallow End, while drummer, Sean Allum stopped playing live after Duotang. A Duotang reunion was a much anticipated show especially for fans of Winnipeg indie-music in the 90's and early 2000's. I saw Duotang at least twice in the mid-90's and a memorable show opening for The Smugglers and Mr. T Experience at Wellingtons in 1996 was amazing!! I believe I recorded The Smugglers and Mr. T sets on my old tape recorder (in case you're interested?).

Some interesting pre-reunion show reads in the local papers:
Winnipeg Free Press- Winnipeg bass-and-drums duo having a blast revisiting the 90's
Winnipeg Sun- Spend Boxing Day with Duotang

For a band that hasn't played much in the past 10 years, Duotang sounded tight. The sound was good at the Good Will and the hometown crowd was enthusiastic and appreciative. Angus Kirkpatrick (Grand Theft Canoe), who toured with Duotang (as a second bassist), guested during the later part of the set and encore finale, as well as Robert Dempster (Transonic) on backing vocals for Toast To The Life-Long Friends. The band closed the show with an ambitious cover of The Who's, A Quick One. An incredible feat for any band, but especially a band with 2 bass players and a drummer...sloppy, messy and a lot of fun!
Enjoy!

Feel free to share, but please do NOT sell or convert to mp3!

DUOTANG
The Good Will
Winnipeg, MB
December 26, 2014
"Reunion show"
AUD Master

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> USB> 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC> rar file

01. Smash Ships And Raise The Beams
02. Present Blind
03. Message
04. Thomas Green
05. Disaffected
06. Witch-Hunters
07. Friends
08. Review
09. Slow Down
10. Ghosts
11. Call Your Side
12. Don't Give Up, Just Back Off A Bit
13. Toast To The Life-Long Friends
14. Far From Heart, Deep In Mind

Encore
15. 10:15 Saturday Night (Cure cover)
16. King Of Beliefs
17. A Quick One (The Who cover)

DUOTANG- 2014-12-26 The Good Will, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar

New Barbarians/The Rolling Stones- "Blind Date" Tribute to Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys

Last week, within a day of each other, rock lost two great sidemen, though not household names they were integral members of some of the greatest rock bands of our generation.

Ian McLagan was a founding member of the Small Faces and Faces and extensively joined The Rolling Stones both on tour and on record. He also lent his keyboard talents on sessions with Dylan, Westerberg, Springsteen, Browne and many others and he was a member of Billy Bragg's band, The Blokes. I own Ian's debut solo album, the excellent album, Troublemaker (1979) that I bought in the early 80's and featured appearances from Ron Wood, Keith Richards, Stanley Clarke and Bobby Keys, all of whom formed the New Barbarians. McLagan also played on Ron Wood's solo albums.

Bobby Keys was a much in-demand sideman who played with a who's who of classic rock. He famously played saxophone on John Lennon's, Whatever Gets You Through The Night and also worked with Harrison, Clapton, The Who and others, but he's best known for his work with the Stones. Since 1969, he was the main saxophone player in the band both on tour (most) and in the studio. His friendship with Keith Richards led to his association to fellow Stone, Ron Wood as he played on three of his solo albums and was also a member of the New Barbarians.

Both Ian McLagan and Bobby Keys crossed paths in Ron's project, The New Barbarians who toured the US and Canada in 1979. The New Barbarians debuted supporting the Stones for a pair of charity concerts in support of the CNIB. The concert was the result of fulfilling one of the plea conditions for Keith Richard's sentence for heroin possession. The concert took place at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium (near Toronto) on April 22, 1979. The New Barbarians played an opening set, followed by Keith and Mick performing Prodigal Son and then they were joined by the rest of The Rolling Stones.

This recording is an audience recording that was ripped from the vinyl version of the "bootleg", Blind Date. A more well-known version of the same show (Blind Date Revisited) is soundboard sourced, but having listened to both versions, I prefer this version. It's richer sounding and has more atmosphere as the soundboard version sounds more trebly and distorted sounding. The performances from both bands are loose and ragged with some bum notes and sloppy musicianship, but the show is fun and the band seems to having a blast...and besides the New Barbarians are introduced by the great John Belushi!
Enjoy!

NEW BARBARIANS / THE ROLLING STONES
"BLIND DATE" (vinyl rip)
"Canadian National Institute For The Blind Benefit Concerts"
Civic Auditorium
Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
April 22nd 1979 (2nd show)

Disc 1 
NEW BARBARIANS:
A01 . Intro
A02. Sweet Little Rock'n Roller
A03. F.U.C. Her
A04. Breathe On Me
A05. Infekshun
B01. I Can Feel The Fire
B02. Am I Grooving You
B03. Seven Days
B04. Before They Make Me Run
THE ROLLING STONES (Mick and Keith)
B05. Prodigal Son

Disc 2 
THE ROLLING STONES (cont.)
C01. Let It Rock
C02. Respectable
C03. Starfucker
C04. Beast Of Burden
C05. Just My Imagination
D01. When The Whip Comes Down
D02. Shattered
D03. Miss You
D04. Jumpin' Jack Flash

* NOTE: I downloaded this show from Dime a while back, so this is not my rip or upload. Sorry for the weird track listing. The A,B,C,D reflect the 4 sides of the double LP and the song tracks. The enclosed notes differ, but that's how the file was written. There's some sweet scans of the covers enclosed.

NEW BARBARIANS:

Ronnie Wood    guitar, vocals, harmonica, pedal steel
Keith Richards    guitar, vocals
Ian McLagan    piano, organ, back vocals
Stanley Clarke    bass
Bobby Keys    saxophone
Joseph ‘Ziggy’ Modeliste   drums

THE ROLLING STONES:

Mick Jagger    vocals, guitar
Keith Richards    guitar, back vocals
Bill Wyman    bass
Charlie Watts    drums
Ronnie Wood    guitar, back vocals
Ian McLagan    piano
Stanley Clarke    bass (on the last 1 and a half song of the show)

NEW BARBARIANS- 1979-04-22 Blind Date FLAC. rar (disc 1)
THE ROLLING STONES- 1979-04-22 Blind Date FLAC. rar (disc 2)

Jayhawks 1985 Demos

Jayhawks circa. 1986.  Photo by Daniel Corrigan

Saw these posted last week on Dime and I must admit I've have never actually heard these 1985 demos. The band formed in 1985, so I'm assuming they're some of the earliest recordings from Mark Olson, Gary Louris, Marc Perlman and Norm Rogers as the Jayhawks. None of these songs appeared on their first album, released by Bunkhouse Records in 1986. Their second release, Blue Earth took tracks from re-mixed demos recorded in 1986-89, and again, none of the songs from the 1985 demos appeared on Blue Earth. In otherwords, these songs remain officially unreleased. One song, Clouds Across The Sky does sound like an early working of Clouds from Hollywood Town Hall with a similar melody and different lyrics (except, the first line is the same).

If you're a fan of early Jayhawks, this is a curious, yet must-hear listen. It is similar in it's country-rock twang of the first record and it's fascinating to hear the progression of sound the band went through in the early days.
Enjoy!

(This is a repost of the link on Dime and thanks to lilpanda for the original post.)

JAYHAWKS
1985 demos

unknown cdr>eac>flac

1.  Jesus in the Drivers's Seat
2.  Pennies (From Heaven)
3.  Temptation
4.  My Marie
5.  Do-Dee-Oh
6.  Clouds Across the Sky
7.  Dirty Pontiac
8.  The Type of Man I Am
9.  Snow White Angel
10.  Grandma
11.  CC Club Rag (I Got High)
12.  Bullseye to Your Heart
13.  What's The Holdup

JAYHAWKS- 1985 Demos. rar